Nabatean town of Avdat restored

Avdat is located in the Wilderness of Zin, about 50 miles south of Beersheba. The beautiful ruins were vandalized about three years ago. Six different Israeli ministries invested nearly $2 million to repair the damage. The city has been designated by UNESCO as a world’s cultural heritage site.

There are four wine presses at Avdat. The one I am showing below is a large Byzantine wine press.

Byzantine wine press at Avdat. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Murphy-O’Connor describes the winepress.

The winepress has a square treading area into which grapes were fed from small storage rooms on three sides. On the fourth side is a round pit into which the grape juice flowed via a channel under the treading floor from a central sump. – The Holy Land, 201.

The next photo shows the round pit.

The round pit into which the juice flowed. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

I have never been able to take a group to Avdat, but I have made personal visits twice. See here and here.